Berlin, Germany

(Mis-)translation Club

All humans are experts in translation. We translate thoughts and feelings into words, words into written language, written language into thoughts and feelings. In this workshop we will explore as many ways to translate one word as possible– not just into other languages, but into signs, images, photography, sound, dance, acting, smells. The result of the workshop will be an dictionary of this one word.

All humans are experts in translation. We translate thoughts and feelings into words, words into written language, written language into thoughts and feelings. As artists and designers we translate abstract concepts into images, feelings into colour or music, language into dance. Language is at the heart of the human condition and to use language is, inevitably, to translate.

We will start this workshop with a single word in the English language. Together we will explore as many ways to translate this word as possible– not just into other languages, but into signs, images, photography, sound, dance, acting, smells. We will translate with the help of commercial translation tools, artificial intelligence, old dictionaries and people we meet on the street. We will translate on our own and in groups. We will invent new methods of translation and celebrate all the mistranslations that will occur on our way. And of course we will retranslate the results of our translations again and again, creating a garden of forking paths of meaning.
We will use the unique artistic, cultural and linguistic skill-set of each participant to expand and explore the semantic network that starts out with our single word. In this way we create a compendium of meanings and misunderstandings, a universal dictionary of a single concept that means something slightly different to everyone.

A special emphasis of the workshop will be working as a collective. After an intial kick-off period the participants will work together into small groups. Each of these groups will create their own translation methods and hold workshops for the other members of (mis-)translation club.

Course leader

Bernd Grether. berndgrether.de

and

Sam Kim. www.samkim.de

and

Dokho Shin. www.shindokho.kr

Course aim

We will use the unique artistic, cultural and linguistic skill-set of each participant to expand and explore the semantic network that starts out with our single word. In this way we create a compendium of meanings and misunderstandings, a universal dictionary of a single concept that means something slightly different to everyone.

Fee info

EUR 580: course fee